chris stevens and three other americans were killed. the day after the attack the president called the incident an act of terror but the white house also suggested for more than a week that the attack was a protest that just got out of hand and there was no evidence that it was planned or imminent. >>> the libya story has become a real big issue in this election. mitt romney slammed the president saying he sent miss messages about the attack. a cnn foreign affairs reporter talked about what was known that night. >> reporter: this was sent out, it seems, by the state department operations center. this went to the white house situation room. many officials at the white house, fbi, pentagon, cia, many different agencies. i don't think president obama or vice president biden would have gotten these messages, per se, but certainly the president and the vice president were briefed that night and certainly this claim of responsibility, the idea that they were our mill tants, i'm sure they were notified that night about what was going on. but w